The Last Movie I Saw

As a film buff, I always used to look forward to the summer season. partly this was because the studios all brought out the big blockbusters, and partly it was because I'd have the time to catch up with second run features I'd missed in the preceding months when I was bogged down with work. But the last couple of summers have mostly been disappointing, with even movies I was looking forward to failing to ring my bell. The premise for The Hangover, directed by Todd Phillips, looked promising if not particularly deep-- you could go into this flick only expecting to laugh. Unfortunately, all it mustered from me were a few mild chuckles. I didn't find it offensive or boring, just incredibly mild and silly with virtually no inspiration beyond the premise (you can find a plot syopsis elsewhere if the title doesn't pretty much give it away). I found none of the stars (or the characters they played) in any way charismatic-- it was a convention of sidekicks, any one of whom might've added something to a more more top-heavy cast. But this collection of second bananas (and an underused Heather Graham) lacked any kind of spark to really set the proceedings on fire. It was like a mediocre episode of Family Guy-- let's create some absurd circumstances and just riff off the non-sequitors. Sometimes it works, but just as often you just want them to get on with it. I don't feel that I quite wasted the 90 minutes (there were those few chuckles, and Heather Graham), but I doubt I'll rememebr much of where they went a week from now.

One other thing-- I keep promising to write at length on why National Lampoon's Animal House rises above the general entries in "this kind of movie," and I'll get to that when I have a bit more time. For now, suffice to say this film, like so many of the slob genre, creates a world that exists only in movies (you know, where drunk guys wake up to find tigers in the bathroom), while Animal House was clearly grounded in something real (though granted, exaggerated).